KotOR II: TSL story to the game
by passon
Summary: A novelization of the game, KotOR II. Starring a male, light-sided Exile. Begins just before he boards the Harbinger.
1. Ch 1: The Exile's Path

**Author's Note:** Most of the dialogue will be copied from the game. They will usually tend to be the more light-sided conversation options. Most of my own stuff will come in when flying from planet to planet or in situations like when T3-M4 opens the emergency hach on Peragus. Some conversation options were in my opinion irrelevant and brainless so I changed them. In situations like the Nihilus/ Exile duel, I will change a few things due to the fact that I had all my characters run back to the door and switched on solo mode taking on Nihilus by myself. Additionally I keep getting reviews of droids being written druids... I'm sorry I try correcting that but Microsoft Word turns droids into druids and sometimes I dont notice.

_**The Exile's Path**_

It has been five years since the Mandalorian War's or has it been more? I looked around the space port I was on. There were a few small ships but none which took passengers. The planet I was on, was getting uncomfortable. Work was sparse and people began suspecting me. I had done many jobs since I was exiled. I had been working as a bounty hunter on this planet. The planet had been newly settled and had no name, just a designation which I had forgotten.

I went to the docks for larger ships. The sight that greeted me surprised me. A capital class warship was docked there. Republic Soldiers were patrolling back and forth, easily recognizable in there red uniforms. I saw a officer arguing with a dock worker. Fuel from Peragus was being loaded. That stuff was horrid on the engines but was certainly better than nothing. And nothing was the only other option in this part of the galaxy. I decided to take my chances. Maybe they would take me on-board and if not…, well it didn't hurt to ask. I pulled the hood of my cloak over head which darkened my face.

I approached the officer. "What do you mean you only have fifty barrels?" he asked the man angrily.

"Just what I said. We only have fifty barrels. Peragus has had some recent supply issues. They only received a sparse amount of mining shields, which means that they can't mine as much as they usually do." the dock officer replied patiently.

The officer grumbled something and turned towards the ship. I decided to address him. "Sir?"

"Yeah what do you want, citizen?" he asked annoyed.

"How times change…" I thought. "A few years ago he would address me as "general"."

"I'd like to ask if there is any chance if you could give me passage off this rock. This place doesn't have much to offer as work goes." I asked making my situation sound pitifully.

"No, we don't take on civilians." I looked at him closely. He had a medal on his chest given to those who served on Dxun at the start of the Mandalorian Wars. Maybe I could win him over yet.

"Did you serve at Dxun?" I asked pointing in the general direction of his chest.

"Yes, why?" he was curios as to why I asked, I could tell.

"Under who?"

"General Marik, citizen. Why do you ask all this?" he asked annoyed.

"Was he a good general?"

"Here goes nothing." I thought to myself.

"He was a good general. I never met him personally but I saw him often at the officers meetings. I'm curious why do you ask. Did you know him?" he was beginning to get impatient and I thought it was not best to put his patience to the test much longer.

"I might but I would like to ask you one more question. After Dxun, what did you think of him?" now this would be interesting.

"He ordered us over that ridge and we lost many men to the mines. But the order came from Revan, ultimately, not from him. He fought with us personally that day. He killed many Mandalorians. He was a brave man but like all soldiers he had a superior. I don't know why I'm telling you this anyway." he turned to go but I stopped him.

I lifted the hood from my face. "You said you didn't take civilians aboard. Does that include a retired soldier?" I asked smiling.

He was gaping at me. "I-it cant be." he looked me over again and he visibly straightened.

"I didn't know you were still alive, sir. The last thing I heard was that you left after Malachor. Did you return to the order?" I was glad he believed me and didn't begin a quiz to insure I was who I claimed to be.

"Yes. But, I left soon after. Been out here in the Rim. Surviving." I said smiling sadly. I didn't think it wise to tell him that I was exiled. If I told this captain that I had been exiled he might think that I had fallen to the dark side and mistrust me.

What little news I heard told me that Revan had turned Sith on us and tried to conquer the galaxy. It sounded awfully theatrical but she actually tried to. Almost did too as far as I had heard. It's true that I had been doing some un-Jedi like things but I couldn't fall to the dark side since the force was dead to me. "Interesting choice of words" I thought. "The force, dead? To me it was."

"I see, sir." the captain said. "Well, I guess I can arrange for some quarters. If people ask questions I will just tell them that you're a retiree from Dxun."

"Thanks, captain." I was happy it worked out this way. "Where are we going by the way?"

"Telos."

"Telos? Isn't it destr-"

"Yes but were rebuilding. Were bringing them supplies. Peragus fuel," he pointed at the barrels. "Amongst other things. Since these people don't have much will stop by Peragus itself and buy some extra barrels."

A few hours later I was in my new quarters playing dejarik with the captain. He had told me his name over some ale. His name was Captain Moore and he was born on Coruscant itself. We had just finished our forth game which he lost. He lost all the others as well. "I guess that's why you're the general and I'm the captain." he joked.

"Yep, my strategic knowledge is unrivaled." I laughed.

"If Revan could hear you now…"

"I'm glad she can't. I would be playing dejarik till Peragus."

"Would that be so bad?" he asked bemused. "I heard she was very beautiful."

"Yeah? I wouldn't know." I didn't like to talk about Revan much.

He looked at me smiling. "Of course you do, you just don't want to tell me." he handed me another bottle of ale and smirked.

"You want to get me drunk to pry all my secrets from me?"

"Yes sir, but only in my best interest sir." I laughed again.

"Ah well. I guess there's no harm in telling. She was quite beautiful, long red-blond hair, and beautiful blua eyes…" I was becoming dreamy.

"Were you in love with her?" he asked smiling.

I smirked. "Maybe a little. And I have had a little to much."

We played one more game and then decided to call it a night. He actually won the last game so he left happily. "When will we reach Peragus?" I asked before he left.

"Well, were traveling at .2 past lightspeed so," he looked at his watch. "We should be there tomorrow around noon."

He left the room and I went to the freshner. I looked in the mirror. My green eyes were reddened around the iris. Probably due to alcohol. My beard had grown some more and now encompassed my whole jaw up to my ears. My hair was still brown and "Luckily," I thought. "No grays." I had become more vain in my exile since looks seemed to help with female bosses. I had gotten many job's for my looks or by flirting. I decided to call it a night and went to bed. Before I fell asleep though, I heard some talk outside my room.

"They say that the ship is sending signals. Its in damaged-" I couldn't hear the rest. "What's its name?" the other voice asked.

"The "Ebon Hawk"-" they began moving away and I decided to sleep.


	2. Ch 2: A Strange Awakening

**_A Strange Awakening_**

A voice! I had heard a voice i my headthat was not my own, a moment ago. I felt worn and weak. Numerous areas in my body were strangely numb but stranger yet was that voice. It reminded me of the days before Malachor. I managed to open my eyes. I was laying on the bottom of a glass cube. Around me were four other cubes each filled by a person. "Kolto Tanks." I thought. The lights behind the tanks f the others were glowing red. "A Med-Bay." I thought. The room was circular. "This is not the Harbinger!" I was confused. The med-bay on the Harbinger was very large and rectangular in shape. "Where am I?" I heard no sound from outside the door. This place, whatever it was, felt wrong. I had been in kolto tanks before. They were used for any wounds on the skin to prevent scars and enhance and speed up the healing process. When a patient awoke he was usually surrounded by a nurse and a doctor. "Strange, that no one checks my condition." I didn't know what happened to me but I realized I had been unconscious.

"But, that voice." I said aloud. Either imagination or… No, the force was out of reach for me. No two ways about it. "No sense staying here." I thought. I went to the door and opened it. There was no one in the hallway either. One door was locked and the other severely damaged. I looked at it more closely. It had numerous drill holes. Whoever lived or worked here had strange habits in opening doors. I turned around and made a right turn. The door actually opened. "How surprising. I thought doors were just for show here." Some supply cylinders and a Medical computer next to a lab bench was all that filled the room. I went to the console and checked its functions. "Peragus Medical Bay Console, Emergency Lockdown, Enter Command." Was written on the top of the screen. "Great, I must have been wounded some how and the Harbinger left me here. I'm on some strange mining station which seems to be deserted." I looked at the screen again and decided to check the logs.

The first log entry was 3 days old and mentioned me as the lone survivor of the "Ebon Hawk". Thoughts flashed through my mind. "The damaged vessel they mentioned yesterday outside my quarters. No, wait, who knows how long I have been unconscious. I might have been out a week or longer." How I got on the Ebon Hawk was a mystery to me. The entry talked of a T3 unit that repaired the Ebon Hawk and flew it here to Peragus. Those little druids are amazing. And now I owed my life to one. An old woman and a protocol droid were also recovered. I decided to listen to the second entry. "Could be a Jedi-" the female in the log said. I paused the recording in shock. "How would they know that?" this was getting stranger by the minute. I let the log entry continue. It mentioned another accident in the tunnels. Another meant there have been several. Despite my usual calm shivers ran up my spine. There was something wrong here. The last entry only confirmed my suspicions. It mentioned more accidents in the facility and the log entry was stopped abruptly by a warning message. The young woman in the log panicked and the entry was ended abruptly.

Something was wrong. I knew that. I checked the other functions on the medical computer. The second function mentioned that all the other patients were deceased. Only I recovered. The third option said that the four other patients were being treated for plasma burns. "Why are they dead?" I thought. I checked the last treatment. It read: "A lethal dose of sedatives was administered to all the tanks, including #3." If I had not been shocked before I was now. "Damn, if I could get a hold of a spike I could follow the treatment request to its source, and find this assassin."

The last option on the console was finally something positive. I opened the door to the Medical supply room and retrieved some chemicals. I went to the lab station and due to my basic chemistry knowledge managed to construct a primitive med pack. Along with the four from the storage I now had five. "Better than nothing." I thought. This mining station was not deserted on accident and someone tried to kill me and the other miners. Good thing they taught us a technique which made us nigh immune to poisons at the Jedi academy. I was still trapped though. I went back to the medical computer and realized I had overlooked one option. "Unlock door to mortuary."

"How nice." I said aloud. "Nothing like some dead people to keep the boredom away." Since it was the only thing I could do, I opened the door. Two bodies were there. An old woman, and a dead miner. This must be "the old woman" I thought. I felt her pulse. "Dead alright." I thought. I went to the dead miner. The sight that greeted me was both gruesome and joyful. His flesh was burned in numerous places but on his belt hung a plasma torch. I eyed it lovingly. "This should get me out alright." I was starting to get sick of my monologues. I turned towards the door and reeled in shock. The old woman, whom I just checked for life signs and found none, stood in front of me.

"Find what your looking for amongst the dead?" she asked me. Her voice struck me immediately. The voice that awoke me in the kolto tank. Her voice was soothing in a way. A low humming tone. Strange, it reminded me of the voice of a Jedi master who taught me meditation over 2 decades ago.

"Your voice- I heard it as I floated in the Kolto tank." I said suspiciously. She would have to be force sensitive to reach out telekinetically. She had her hood over her eyes. "Strange, how can she see?" I thought.

"Yes, I had hoped as much- I slept here to long and could not awaken. It may be that I reached out unconsciously, and your mind must have been a willing one. Or perhaps you have been trained for such things?" she asked curiously. "She must be a Jedi… or a Sith." I thought.

I decided to find out. "So you can touch minds, feign death… Who are you?"

"I am Kreia, and I am your rescuer- as you are mine."

"Ok, cryptic is her major character trait." I thought. Annoying was another trait.

She continued. "Tell me- do you recall what happened?"

I felt like I was being interrogated. "The last thing I remember was going to sleep on the Harbinger, a Republic warship on its way to Telos. I have already found out where we are. A mining station called Peragus. They mine fuel from the interior of Asteroids. A hazardous facility, to say the least. It seems deserted as well. How I got here is beyond me."

"A charming place. Your ship, the Harbinger, was attacked. You were the only survivor… a result of your Jedi training, no doubt." she said matter-of-factly.

"I guess everyone here knows what I am, or better, what I was." I thought angrily.

"Well, I am no Jedi anymore. I was exiled many years ago. The Jedi order and I have a… troubled history." I stated. "Ok I showed you my cards, you show me yours." I thought to myself. "No such luck."

"So it would seem. Keep your past- and let us focus on the here and now." I felt like a padawan being lectured by my mentor. Strange that I felt inferior to her.

"All right. This area of the facility is deserted but that does not mean the other areas are. They must have a dormitory here somewhere. I'll check there and the Hangar. All fuel stations have a hanger this can't be an exception. Do you know what happened here?" I asked filled with hope.

"I do not know. I was removed from the events of the world as I slept here. A survey of our surroundings may provide the answers we seek. But it would be best if we leave soon." I was wishing she would stop talking so elaborately. "Old age." I muttered.

I felt she was hiding something. "Why do, we need to leave?" Not that I wanted to stay on this rock ten more minutes but she was acting a little strange.

She seemed annoyed that I dared question her. "She is used to being in charge." I thought. "An interesting trait in an old woman."

She spoke up after scrutinizing me. "We were attacked once, and I fear our attackers will not give up the hunt so easily- without transport, weapons, and information, they will find us easy prey indeed."

What she said was profound and wise. I saw no need to argue it and again felt incredibly inferior to her. A strange power was emanating from her. I felt like a student before his mentor. She also seemed anxious for some reason.

"You seem nervous, worried. Is something wrong?"

"She paused a moment, thinking, it seemed. "Even as I slept I felt much unrest here. Minds colored with fear. I would find out as much as you can about this place quickly- I fear we will need to depart as suddenly as we arrived." she was quite nervous so much was obvious. But was it because of what she said it was… I did not know.

"At least we share a common bad feeling about this place." I thought.

"I will see what I can find out." I replied.

"You may wish to extend your search to some clothes… if only for the proper first impression." I looked down and flushed slightly. I had not realized that I was only wearing some underwear. And not the most stylish either.

"Good Idea." I said. "By the way, the patients in the kolto tanks were administered a lethal dose of sedatives." I told her suspiciously.

"Strange. Why did they spare you?" she asked.

"I am trained to resist poisons of the body." I replied. "They didn't."

"Indeed, a Jedi trance would protect one from such poisons… in fact the sedatives may have been meant to keep you unconscious."

"This old woman knows to much." I thought. "She must be a Jedi or once was."

She continued her theory. "It would prove lethal to those untrained in such techniques, however. Most curious."

"You know a lot about Jedi techniques." I told her. "In fact you remind me of one of my masters of long ago. She taught me the best forms of meditation. I never knew her name though."

"I was once a Jedi, yes, but never a teacher." I felt that she was telling the truth.

"Ah well, maybe we can reminisce when we have left this place. I will return soon to make sure your alright."

"And maybe to pry some secrets from you." I thought.

"I will leave you to the explorations of this place. Here I remain, and I will try to center myself." she said as I stepped out of the mortuary. "She certainly talks like a Jedi Master." I began thinking. "But something tells me not to trust her, at least not yet."


	3. Ch 3: Feeling the Force and the Prisoner

_**Feeling the Force **_

I left the mortuary armed with my plasma torch. Thoughts about my strange encounter spun in my head. I so desperately wanted to give the old woman a title. "Sith or Jedi?" I asked myself. "Perhaps I'm seeing this wrong. Maybe she is neither." I knew that but few could walk the narrow line between light and dark. The temptation of the Dark Side usually proved to much. I went up to the damaged door and bashed my way through. The sight that greeted my must have been my third shock for the day. Corpses were lying all about and destroyed droids littered the floor. Some of the destroyed droids had there mining equipment extended. They were covered in blood. The sight was disgusting to say the least. The corpses looked like they had been "mined". Holes in the corpses looked like they had been causes by the droids. "They must have malfunctioned." I thought. I went over to one of the corpses and picked up a vibroblade. "Well at least I have a weapon." I thought. One of the bodies that littered the floor seemed familiar to me. I went over to it and recognized it as the doctor from the log entries in the medical bay. She was shot numerous times in the chest by a weak laser.

I grasped my vibroblade firmly and opened the next door. The adjoining room was also filled with wrecked droids and bodies but also with two live druids that turned towards me instantly. I quickly ran over too one of them and split it in two with my blade. The other droid had begun firing at me but it proved to be everything but a crack shot and missed completely. I quickly destroyed it as well. The next room was empty but it had two doors. I approached the one to my left and attempted to open it. It was locked.

"…this is the exit… but it is sealed… strange… in my visions, it was open…" Kreia's voice startled me.

"Kreia?" I asked. No one answered. I once again attempted to open it but it remained shut. She was force sensitive alright. It was strange to hear a voice in my head but it reminded me of better days. I decided to try the other door since this door would be impenetrable to my plasma torch. It opened and revealed a room with a computer, some lockers, and of course bodies. I began by checking the lockers and with some skill I managed to open it. The two Ion grenades were a sight for sore eyes. They would be perfect against droids.

The computer was next. It contained a few logs which I listened too. The first entry was made by a man who looked like some one in charge. He mentioned that he did not want anyone violating anymore security procedures. He particularly addressed someone named Coorta. "Must be a trouble maker" I thought. The second entry described an accident with a sonic grenade going off prematurely. It also mentioned that droids were malfunctioning. "What an understatement!" I exclaimed aloud.

Log Entry #3 had a short communication of the enraged officer in the previous entries with some idiot from maintenance. The maintenance officer had been unable to figure out what was happening to the droids. The maintenance officer mentioned "binary decay". The man making the entry got upset and mentioned that everything had begun when the commander had refused to sell me to the exchange. "What would the exchange want with me?" I thought. "I don't owe them anything." I continued the entry. The officer mentioned that he was arming this level in case of droid attacks. I looked around the room at the bodies. "I guess he was unsuccessful." Entry four was quite interesting. "So if I shut down the energy field to the holding cells all the droids will turn off… good to know." Entry five. The officer explained his master plan about using a stealth field generator to turn off the holding cell field to shut down the droids and turn them on the saboteurs. "Good plan but it has not worked." I mused.

As I approached the door to the next room I felt a familiar tug in my mind. "… be careful… there is much energy in the room beyond… yet it stems from nothing that lives…"

"Thanks for the warning." I said out loud.

Kreia continued. "… can you not sense them… reach out… cast aside your sight… cast aside what you can see and instead reach out with your perceptions"

I staggered from the unknown yet familiar presence of the force. The energy field that had been my companion in the early years of my life suddenly returned. It felt a little different but it was there.

"… ah you can feel them… the droids you cannot perceive, but the small oscillations of energy… that you can feel… echoing outwards."

I could actually sense three droids on the opposite side of the door. I could wield the force again. It was an exhilarating sensation. I decided to use my newly found powers on the droids. I opened the door and with a force enhanced sprint leaped at the first droid and destroyed it before it could move. The other two mining droids began firing and I dodged there blasts. Three seconds later the droids were destroyed.

Kreia spoke once again. "Ah… you hear it. It is faint… but it is there."

"How was she doing this?" I thought. "What is happening?" I asked

"It is the force you feel… it has not been so long as for you to forget…" She was lecturing me again. Well it did feel different.

"But it doesn't feel like it did… it feels like it it coming from across a great distance." I replied.

"Do not turn away from it. Listen… feel it echoing within you." She told me, but it sounded more like an order. "Come, I shall guide you down the familiar paths- you will need it if we are to survive and escape this place."

I looked around the room, which I had just cleared. There were two lockers and one of them contained the famous stealthfield generator. Stealth had never been my thing and using my new force powers to kill the droids was too big a temptation. The other locker had two more Ion grenades. I proceeded to the next area and came to a very large room of sorts.

The large room was filled with computers… and droids. After destroying five I made my way to the administration computer mentioned in the logs. Above the computer was a huge digital map of the mining station and some strange looking planet with a hole in it. Maybe this was the planet mentioned by the administration officer in the logs.

I looked at the computer and found the override switch. The monitor switched to camera view and I saw how the energy field protecting a door disappeared. "Presumably the cell room." I thought. I used some of my scavenged med-packs to treat my bast wounds. Luckily these blasters were weak. The wounds were not dangerous so I made my way over to the now open door.

"…as… beyond this door is someone who yet lives… be mindful… his thoughts are… difficult to read… but you have nothing to fear from this one… and he might yet prove useful…"

"Kreia's voice again" I thought. This was getting annoying. "I'm being ordered around completely now. Maybe the force was not the blessing I thought it was these last ten years." I thought back on all the pazaak games I could have won with the force… "It does have some uses."

I opened the door to reveal some holding cells. The "someone who yet lives" was sitting on the floor of his cell playing pazaak with himself. He was being very careful not to get to close to the energy field, surrounding him. His clothes were singed in some places. "How long has he been in there?" I asked myself.

He looked up surprised. "Nice outfit- what, you miners change regulation uniform while I've been in here?"

"I better get some clothes." I thought. "The second comment now. First Kreia and now this guy."

I decided to address the clown. "Who are you?"

"Atton… Atton Rand. Excuse me if I don't shake hands. The field only causes mild electrical burns." He told me sarcastically.

"Yeah, I can tell." I replied. "Care to explain why you're locked up?"

He looked indignant. "Ok, here comes the:_ I didn't do anything speech._"

"Security claimed I violated some trumped up regulation or another- take it up with them if you want, but they stopped listening to me shortly after they stopped feeding me. Now that's criminal." He said clearly enraged.

I must admit I felt sorry for him. I knew that he hasn't been taken care of since the droids had killed everyone. "But, better safe than sorry." I decided to ask him a few more questions. "

"This facility's deserted. What happened?" He proceeded to tell me of some accidents. He like Kreia was certain that the patient in the med-bay, me, was a Jedi. I vowed to myself to kill whoever had spread this lie about me. He continued his narration. Some of the miners wanted to sell me, unconscious, to the exchange. I already knew that the commander of the facility didn't go along from the log entries I had seen earlier.

"Then there was some big explosion, and then I was sitting here for a long time, waiting for some half naked miner to show up and ask a bunch of questions." His sarcasm was certainly not endearing. This was the second time I heard of this bounty on captured Jedi.

"There's a bounty on captured Jedi? Why?"

"Don't know much about it. Maybe someone wants one as a trophy, or someone has something against Jedi and is looking to collect. Not many Jedi left… wouldn't surprise me if the bounty's pretty high." Atton replied.

"Interesting." I didn't know what had been happening in the order the last five years. I didn't care, and in the rim you don't hear much about Jedi politics anyway. "Guess, I could pry some information from him."

"Not many Jedi left? What happened to them?" I asked.

"He must think this the strangest interrogation of his life." I thought amused.

He looked at me confused. "The ones who weren't killed in the Jedi Civil War ended up switching off the lightsabers long ago. Word is, there's not even a Jedi council anymore, but who knows?" he explained.

I didn't know the Jedi were in that bad of a condition. And I never knew Jedi fought amongst each other. "The stories I heard were of the Sith fighting Jedi, not Jedi fighting Jedi."

That must have sounded like I'm quite the ignorant. "Stories?" he asked. "Yeah, Revan, Malak, and the Jedi that went to join them in the Mandalorian Wars. They turned against the other Jedi and had a scrap that almost laid waste the galaxy. Heh. Where have you been?" he asked smiling.

"He must think me some ignorant miner who hasn't left this facility since ten years." I thought to myself. I looked around me. "What a horrid thought"

I turned back towards Atton. "I've been… away since the Mandalorian Wars."

"Well, I wasn't there, but like all Sith, Revan and Malak turned on each other. After they turned on the Jedi, of course." He explained.

"I will listen to the news more often." I told myself.

"The rumors I heard said Revan defeated Malak, then went to Korriban to unite the Sith against the Republic."

"That was the story, but whatever happened there must not have lasted. There was some big civil war on Korriban, knocked that academy to the ground. Looks like Revan's grand crusade finally consumed her." He told me expertly.

"He knows a lot about the Sith" I mused. "Or maybe I just know nothing."

" I am not surprised… Revan lived for battle. She could not easily turn away from war- or death."

He looked at me stupefied. I realized it was my first knowledgeable remark in the conversation.

"Yeah, well when she became a Sith Lord she sure didn't stop. She killed her way across half the galaxy. The males are bad enough, but when a woman falls to the dark side, you better space yourself before they catch you." I might be ignorant but that sounded awfully like he knew it from experience.

"You sound like you know from experience." I said curious as to how he would react. He reacted perfectly calm.

"Ah well, you hear a lot at pazaak tables." I realized that I had been carried away by the conversation. I noticed that it was time to try to get off this inhospitable facility.

"I had some more questions for you."

"Hey no offense or anything, but you weird half-naked interrogation is not my id…" It looked like something suddenly dawned on him. "Hey, wait a minute- you're that Jedi the miners were talking about. Where is everybody?" I decided not to argue that with him. Since everyone thought I was a Jedi there was no use arguing it. I renewed my vow to kill the person who spread that lie.

"I don't know- this facility seems abandoned." I replied.

"The miners can't all be gone, but if they are…" he looked at me pleadingly. "Look- hey, let me out, and I can help you. I can. I've gotten out of trouble countless times."

I felt a tug in my mind. "Kreia must be warning me to be careful." I thought.

"Tell me your plan, and we can go from there." I smirked.

"This facility is not a military instalation which means that we have a pretty good chance of getting out of here alive. You shut down this cell's security field, and I can reroute the emergency systems so we can get to the hangars. We grab a ship and then fly out of here." I told me. That sounded like a sound plan to me.

"I trust you. And if we work together, we may be able to get out of this mess." I hoped I wasn't making a mistake. Kreia told me I have nothing to fear so I decided to trust her. I turned off the energy field and he stepped out.

"Great- now to business. Let's get to the command console." I threw him a ration bar from one of the lockers, which he devoured eagerly.

"All right, let's go." We ran to the commando console. Atton finished eating and turned towards me. He explained something about orbital drift charts which guided ships to the station through the asteroids. He suddenly started. "What's wrond?" I asked.

He looked at me frowning. "This system's been severed from the main hub- after it was locked down by remote. You can't even reroute the system, it's been cut clean."

"Strange." I thought. "Everything on this station is strange!"

"That wouldn't be standard procedure in an emergency lockdown." I said out loud.

He stared at the console. "No- someone tried to lock down this whole level tight, and leave us here. Trapped."

"Maybe the same person who tried to keep me unconscious with an overdose of sedatives." I mused angrily.

"Is there anything else we can do with this console?" I asked him.

He sighed. "I doubt it. All we have is communications back, for all the good trying to shout in a vacuum will do us."

"Let's see if we can try and reach someone on the comm." I said filled with hope.

"Be my guest. Not much else we can do. The console's all yours." He said sounding as if all hope had left him.


	4. Ch 4: Waiting for a Droid

Waiting for a Droid

I activated the communications network. I checked the dormitories but no one answered. I looked over at Atton. "Told you" he said. When I checked the Hangar bay I was surprised to hear beeps and chirps coming through the console. It was the characteristic sound of the astromech droid "language". He was happy to hear from me he told me. He had been attacked by a few mining droids but managed to dispose of them. I asked him if he could follow my instructions. He chirped an affirmative. I told him that I was trapped on the administration level and needed to find a way to the Hangar. He told me that the only way was through the mining tunnels since all the turbo lifts were locked down manually. "I'd rather risk that than be stuck up here." I said through the console. The last thing I heard was him rolling off.

"What did you tell the cargo cylinder?" Atton asked me. I frowned. I respected druids. They made life much easier for humans and other sentient life.

"Never mind for now," I replied. "It might not work anyhow."

"What's a Jedi doing on a mining station in the middle of nowhere?" he asked me curiously. We sat down on the cold floor waiting.

"First of all, I swear to you that I'm going to kill the person who told everyone on this station that I'm a Jedi." I said angrily. "I mean the doctor in the med-bay logs said I'm a Jedi. The administration officer in the other logs said I'm a Jedi. Kreia called me a Jedi…"

"Who's Kreia?" he asked me smiling. He obviously didn't believe that I wasn't a Jedi.

"An old woman in the mortuary." I told him.

He smiled at me strangely. "An old woman, huh? You sure your ok?" he asked concerned.

"It's true. I thought her dead. Turns out, that she is a former Jedi who wasn't really dead at all." I explained. "Speaking of Kreia," I stood up and started walking towards the med-bay. "I'll be right back. Stay here and see if the droid sends any messages.

He nodded and I made my way to the med-bay. The bodies along the way disgusted me. "Whoever did this," I thought. "deserves to die horribly."

I came to the med-bay and found Kreia meditating in the mortuary. She didn't move when I walked in.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked from behind her. She didn't stir. "Answer me, why are you doing this?"

"Doing what, Exile?" she finally asked standing up and facing me.

I looked at her more closely. I could see her eyes for the first time. They were completely white. No iris, no pupil… just the white of the eye. It was a little scary to say the least. "Why are you making me feel the force again?"

"It has always been there in one way or another. I just opened your eyes too it." it was ironic that she mentioned the opening of eyes considering she was blind. "Or was she? She seems to see something."

"Why do you answer all my questions in riddles?" I asked indignantly. "Additionally I also here you voice as I explore this place. Feeling the force is one thing but that should only happen between master and apprentice."

"You are correct but this may have been caused by our long proximity together. Our long slumber may have had some unforeseen consequences. We seem to be able to speak without speaking." she explained.

"So I noticed." I replied.

"It may pass in time." she answered.

I thought back on master and apprentice bonds in the Jedi academy. When the padawan was knighted the bond vanished after some time. But I had never heard of a bond formed so quickly. "What if it does not?"

"Then hope we have little to say to each other lest it prove distracting." she replied. She sat back down and pretended I wasn't there. The old woman was starting to annoy me.

"By the way, how do you know I have nothing to fear from Atton?" I questioned her. Atton did behave a little creepy. I had used the force to monitor a few of his thoughts. All I heard was him adding and subtracting and then nothing. That was not normal.

"I don't know. But he has technical skills and will probably prove useful."

I turned around and left. Making my way back to the administration computer I thought over the recent events. I had been knocked unconscious for over 3 days, I reestablished my connections to the force, and I ended up on a deserted, haunted mining station in the middle of nowhere. It was enough to keep me on my heels. When I came back to the administration console Atton was back at pazaak. He had the cards laid out in front of him. "Care for a game?" he asked me.

"Sure, nothing else to do anyway." I answered.

I sat down and he shuffled the cards. After three losses on my part we heard beeping from the computer.

"What do you know, it looks like the little cargo cylinder came through." We heard the emergency hatch opening.

"It looks like it. Strange he didn't contact us though." I mused.

Atton seemed excited. "If he got the turbo lifts working, then we should have a clear run to the hangar."

The guy didn't like it here anymore than I did I realized. "Sorry to bust your bubble, but the turbo lifts are locked down manually, so I had him open the emergency hatch." he gaped at me. I turned to leave, drawing my vibroblade.

Atton tapped me on the shoulder. "Wait! Don't tell me your going down into the mining tunnels. That explosion I heard came from below. There's probably nothing down there except superheated rock and collapsed mining tunnels. You'd be an idiot to go down there."

I looked at him smirking. "Yeah, your right. We should just stay here and wait for some malfunctioning droids to "mine" us." he looked at me with wide eyes. "Yeah that's why no one let you out of prison. The miners were all killed by malfunctioning mining droids. I guess they got it into there metal heads to mine organics."

"Are you serious? That means someone programmed them to do so. Whoever did that does not have a conscience that's for sure. Well I guess your right then." he gave me a comlink. "I'll monitor things from up here."

I look at a strange looking electronic disc. "What's this?" I asked him.

"A comlink. Keep it open at all times." I turned around and ran to the emergency hatch. I stepped into the lift and activated it. As I was moving down to the lower level a cold feeling crept up my spine. 


	5. Ch 5: The Protocol Droid

The Protocol Droid 

When the turbolift reached the bottom of the shaft I stepped out of the door and was immediately startled by Atton's voice.

"Can you read me?" he asked me.

I activated my comlink. "Yeah, I hear you." I replied.

"Ok I'm picking up your signal but there's a bit of static." I did hear a subsequent amount of interference.

"There should be an emergency crate in the next room. But be careful there are a lot of droids in the area."

I was not surprised since I was in the mining tunnels were mining droids usually hang out. "Yeah I figured as much. Contact me if you detect anything." I turned my comlink off and made my way to the next room.

The room or corridor did in fact have a crate filled with survey gear, clothes, and other useful items. I was truly relieved to finally have something to wear

"Find the emergency supplies?" Atton's asked.

"Looks like some mining gear- and a uniform." I said joyfully.

"About time the whole half naked Jedi thing was wearing a little thin." He said sarcastically. Atton proceeded to explain the uses of the other items in the crate.

"Ok I'll get going." I told him equipping the gear.

"Um, just one more thing- I've narrowed down some of the ID signals, and if the numbers are right, you're sharing those tunnels with a battalion of mining droids." He said uncomfortably.

"If they were anything like those up on the administration level they should not be hard to take out."

I replied.

He told me to make my way to the governing intelligence terminal in the main shaft. I went through the next couple of doors and came to a machine that was unknown to me. I turned right and Atton immediately warned me of mines in the area. Using the survey gear I spotted a few of them.

"Why are there so many charges down here?" I asked him.

He explained that mining droids especially excavators, whatever those were, were programmed to arm and set sonic charges to mine fuel. They now deployed them to kill miners. I turned around and went through the passage to my right. The mining tunnels were filled with mining droids as Atton had told me. Some of them even used energy shields. In the second part of the tunnel, there were not only mining droids but also floating spheres, similar to remotes used for lightsaber training. It immediately repaired the droid I damaged. I ducked the blasts of the mining droids and jumped up trying to hit the naughty sphere. I missed and was struck by a blast of the mining droids. I ran away and hid in the mining tunnel I had already cleared. I suddenly heard Kreia's voice. "The maintenance droids are hard to hit with a sword. Use the force to destroy them. Imagine the raw power of the force. Imagine electricity coupled with the force."

I made my way back towards the maintenance sphere. "Now unleash the power." Kreia told me. I did as she told imagining the forces raw power in the form of electricity and a blue streak of energy came out of my hand and destroyed the little droid. I quickly took out the other two droids. Having been distracted by the fight I had not realized the wound on my left arm. The burning pain in my left arm and shoulder forced me to go back to the administration level were I used the Lab Station to heal myself. I went down to the mining tunnels and went through the first two shafts.

I came to another tunnel but I felt immense heat emanating from it. As if on cue, Atton, contacted me.

"Hey, watch out that shaft is hot! If you can find a mining energy shield, switch it on- it should protect you against the heat if you move quickly through.

I looked at the steam with the reddish hue coming out of the shaft. "I'll do that." I said unconvinced. I hoped this would work. I turned on the mining shield and ran through the shaft with a force-enhanced sprint. I felt immense heat but I didn't sweat or feel pain. I reached the other side without any injuries. "Thanks, Atton." I said to myself. The shaft I was in now was a bigger than the others. I destroyed the sensor ball and the droids in this shaft with a single ion grenade. I went towards the next shaft and finally saw something large.

"You're getting close to something big… I think it's the main ventilation shaft. The central controller terminal should be here. I'm picking up a lot of droids. If you still have a mining energy shield. I'd equip it and switch it on.

"Understood. Simion Marik out."

"So that's your name? Good to hear it." He said.

The area I was now in was very large and square in shape. There was a large open hole, circular in shape, in the middle of it. A bridge ran through the center of it. In the center of the bridge, however, was a circular platform with two large terminals. I crossed the bridge throwing two grenades at two droids that were too close for comfort. The two terminals made up the central controller Atton had mentioned. I found an option that made the droids attack each other and with the help of a spike activated it. I proceeded to shut down the containment fields. I was satisfied with my work and logged out. I watched with joy as the droids started attacking each other. I ran towards the open passageway to my left. Atton contacted me again. "Hey, Im picking up some strange reading- what are you doing down there?" he asked me.

"Trust me," I replied. "Whatever you've detected it's, probably my fault." I said proudly.

"The containment fields in the mining tunnels are shutting down- you need to get out of there before they vet fuel to the surface of the asteroid through the tunnels." I was suddenly not so proud.

"Great." I said wryly. "How much farther is the exit?" I asked.

"Not to much time and I'm locking down the lift to the administration level to keep the blast from spreading. If you have anything left to do down there make it quick. The lift to the fuel depot is only a little ways ahead." He explained. I found the remains of droid skirmishes and smirked. After two more rooms and another malfunctioning droid turned scrap I made it to the turbolift. As the turbolift raced upwards I felt a strong amount of heat. A red light started blinking on the lift but thankfully it continued upwards for a few seconds and then the door flew open. I jumped out of the lift and the pressure of an explosion accelerated my jump. I rolled across the floor and jumped to my feet. Looking to my left I saw a familiar looking corpse. I walked over to it and recognized it as the body of the maintenance officer from one of the logs I had seen. I heard metal clinking and instantly picked up my vibroblade.

"Greeting: It is a pleasure to see you alive, Master, provided my receptors are not off-focus. How may I be of assistance?" It was a large bipedal droid. The design of its body was rather universal but the face was menacing and unique. I had never seen a droid like that before. Even stranger was that it called me Master.

"How do you know me? I'm not your Master." I asked him.

"Answer: I am a survivor of the Harbinger, just as you were, Master. With the unexpected termination of my previous Master, you are the only organic I may now serve."

I scrutinized him. Served as what? "Who was your previous master?"

"Answer: The captain of the Harbinger, Master. I was in transit to Telos to facilitate communication and terminate hostilities… However, we did not arrive at our intended destination."

"What happened?"

"Irritated Answer: Oh, Master, it is such a long, dull story. And not terribly relevant to our current situation." He replied.

"That's strange." I thought. "Droids don't usually question orders."

"For a droid, you don't take orders too well. Now tell me what happened." I told him.

He reluctantly proceeded to tell me that the Harbinger suffered a number of cascade failures that disabled the ship. He also told me that many miners had discussed what happened to us and some of the miners tried to claim him and me as salvage.

"How come I don't remember any of this?" I asked.

"Speculation: It is possible that you were incapacitated and locked in the well shielded cargo compartment as the Harbinger was being systematically crippled, master." A good speculation but almost too good.

"Incapacitated?" I asked curiously.

"Clarification: Yes, Master. No doubt the flurry of destruction on board the harbinger somehow drugged you into a stupor from which you could not awaken. Most curious."

"Curious choice of words tin man." I thought.

"Drugged! What do you mean drugged?" This droid had one weird vocabulator.

"Clarification: Merely a term of phrase, Master. The implication that your state was due to the result of ingesting large quantities of juma juice was unintentional. I meant to communicate only that you were somehow rendered unconscious before you were locked securely in the cargo hold."

This droid was strange for sure. Or he had something to do with what happened to me. "Maybe his Master ordered him to do something with me?" I asked myself. And hwy is he insistent that I was "locked" into the cargo hold.

"Locked?" I asked with suspicion.

"Clarification: By locked, I meant "sealed," Master. My vocabulator seems to be malfunctioning."

"I'd say." I mused. "If he was a protocol droid he was acting very strange and if he was some special combat droid of the commanders he was giving himself away."

"Fine- what happened next?" I asked.

He explained that the Harbinger picked up a small, damaged freighter with unknown ID codes, something I already knew. The captain seemingly wanted to study it. I was kid-napped by the crew of the freighter and he continued to narrate that he also managed to board the freighter. "We were most fortunate to have survived, master."

"Any idea what had attacked the small freighter?"

He told me that a much larger vessel attacked judging by the damage it suffered and that upon leaving the Harbinger it was fired upon again. "Addendum: It does seem odd that such a small vessel has a probability of attracting the attention of much larger vessels. Not a welcome trait in a freighter, to be sure."

"Obviously. Why would they take me aboard?"

"Answer: The ship's name, I believe, was the "Ebon Hawk". Speculation: As for its purpose, I do not know. Perhaps it was always its intention to play dead and rob me of my bounty."

"Aha, now you really gave yourself away. I should just destroy it but maybe it can help me for now." I thought.

"Bounty?" I asked smirking.

"Clarification: By bounty, I refer to your life, Master. It would pain me to see you damaged in any way. That is why the arrival of this Ebon Hawk caused me considerable distress."

"I understand," I mused. "I would be worth less if I was damaged. This must mean that whoever put out the bounty wants me alive."

"And the Ebon Hawk came here?" I said after a moment of thought.

"Apology: My memory core cannot provide a clear answer on that point, Master. Suffice to say that once we arrived at this floating rock, our situation became much clearer." He replied.

He explained that the miners were very interested in me, which gave him feelings of inferiority. He also said that he was a HK protocol droid. "Yeah but what kind of protocol?" I thought.

"… I was forced to remind myself it was not due to a failing of my function or model, but because you were a Jedi."

"Finally some one got it right." I told myself. "But why did he think I "was" a Jedi while everyone else thought I "am" a Jedi?" I wondered if he maybe had something to do with that.

"How did they find out I was a Jedi?"

"Surprised Answer: Why I told them, Master. You are the exiled Jedi who served with Revan in the Mandalorian Wars, are you not? I hope all that has happened has not been the result of a miscommunication. If so, then the problem lies with the coreward databases, which are notoriously spotty." He said innocently.

"No matter if they are spotty." I thought angrily. "I vowed to kill whatever spread these lies about me and now you will loose your head tin man." I

I was about to swing my vibrobalde at him when I heard Kreia's voice. "Careful Exile!"

I closed my eyes. "What?" I asked her silently.

"The droid may still have his uses… he may have been the one to trap us here… maybe you can get him to help us."

"Alright, but I want to interrogate him a little more." I replied.

"That information wouldn't have been in the coreward databases… only in the Jedi archives." I told him wondering what he would answer.

"Indignant Exclamation: Master, I am only a protocol droid! But it is part of my function to know such information and relay it to any interested parties, in the interest of terminating potential hostiles."

"Potential hostiles?"

"Quick Clarification: Apparently, my vocabulator has suffered some damage, master. I meant terminating any potential 'hostilities'."

Oh right another stumble. "I see… go on."

"Answer: All that has happened, occurred because they thought you were a Jedi, Master. They debated what to do with you, as you lay unconscious in the medical bay. One group seemed intent on selling you as property. The other group opposed this." He explained.

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"Three standard hours after the division between the miners became apparent accidents began to occur throughout the facility. These accidents coincided with the degradation of the mining droid behavioral cores… crude models are prone to such failures, resulting in murderous rampages. The mortality rate of organics in the facilty rose quickly."

"So what happened to the rest of the miners?"

"Many miners began to join you in the medical bay as a cascade of flawlessly timed explosions began to occur in the lower levels of the facility. The explosions herded the miners into emergency sections of the station, quickly and efficiently cutting them off from the communications and facility control… but sadly enough not the ventilation systems."

"Sadly enough? What do you mean?"

"You see, the explosions had damaged specific sections of the facility's ventilation systems, causing a slow, lethal build up of toxic fumes in the dormitory level." He explained.

"How nice. Are there any left alive?"

"Answer: I do not know, Master. Ironically enough, any miner that fled to the dormitory level to protect themselves from the droids and the explosions would find themselves in a gas-filled deathtrap." He answered.

'There all dead then?" I said to myself.

"Forget them, then. I need to get into the hangar bay and get off this rock." I said coldly.

"Pitying Answer: Oh that is unfortunate, master. The hangar is selaed behind a contianment fieldd. It would be impossible to open it." I didn't need his false pity, that's for sure.

"What about override codes?" I asked

"Answer: Only the administration officer has those codes, Master. If he hasn't already been murdered in an unfortunate accident, then he is trapped in the dormitory section, which has been effectively cut off from the facility by explosives."

"There must be another way to reach the dormitory." I said hopefully.

"Theory: You could walk across the surface of the asteroid to the dormitory airlock, but such a route would be extremely hazardous, and I do not wish to see you damaged." Of course he didn't, that would lessen my value.

"If that's my only way out then I will do it and you will help me or I will turn you into scrap along with your faulty vocabulator."

"Weary Resignation: Very well, Master. But there is very little I can do. You see, the airlock is sealed by a code."

I suddenly felt the great urge to chop his head off and jump around on his medal carcass. "Query: Master, why are you making such a strange expression?"

I quickly pulled myself together. "Never mind. This just keeps getting better though. Who's got the damn code?"

"Correction: I already possess the code, Master, but I am afraid it will do you no good."

"Oh and why is that?"

"Condescending explanation: Master, the console governing the droid cluster… and the airlock is voice printed. Musing: In the last days of his life the Maintenance officer was quite careful about voice protocols bordering on paranoid obsession. Conjecture: I suspect once he realized something was wrong in the facility, he voice locked the droid bay functions. A prudent measure, but in the end he met the same fate as the rest of the organics."

"Voiceprinted by the voice of, a now dead, man." I thought. "But if Mr. Assassin wanted to get me out of here unconscious he must have a way to get out of here…"

"Voiceprinted?" I asked curious if his vocabulator would make another slip.

"Explanation: Yes, Master. Many consoles have voice recognition sensors built into their systems, so that only selected officials can unlock them."

"No, really?" I asked him sarcastically. "Never mind, you said you already have the code?"

"Condescending Explanation: Oh, yes, Master, the code is "Maintenance Control: Voiceprint ID: R1-B5," but unless the maintenace officer speaks the code, it is useless."

"Damn! If the maintenance officer is dead, how can you… I mean I speak the code?"

"Answer: Master, you cannot. You are trapped here, just as I am. There is nothing to do except patiently wait for whatever the future has in store for us." He replied.

I looked around the room my eyes settling on the corpse to my feat again. His legs was burned and scorched and he was shot numerous times by lasers. "What's that body here?" I asked the droid.

"That is all that remains of the maintenance officer. In the end he was quite incoherent from the pain and all communications with him proved useless. I heard his dying screams as the droids he tended turned on him, mining him like some piece of asteroid rock." A shiver of disgust ran up my spine.

"Screams?"

"Recitation: Yes Master, the recordings of his last moments were: … five droids… burning through the outer door… they're forcing there way through the bay… please someone, they… oh no, there through!

Aighhh! My leg! They've burned through my leg. I… stop! Stop! St-! Addendum: His remaining attempts at communication are variations in decibel, Master, ranging from frenzied screams to gibbering, inarticulate attempts to beg for his life" My hair stood on edge as I listened to the screams of the man in the recording. But something struck me.

"Wait- if you can playback his voice, can't you speak the voice code?" I asked.

"Objection: Master! To commit such an act would be in violation of the ethics programming most droids are believed to possess. I am afraid there is nothing that can be done."

"The fact that you can mimic voices is pretty impressive. What would it sound like if you did speak the code to the console?" I asked interested.

"Proud Answer: Master, I believe my vocabulator is working adequately enough to accommodate your request. Recitation:…" he proceeded to speak the code using the voice I had heard in the recording." There. Was that sufficient, Master?"

"Impressive. Can you follow me and say that again?" I asked.

"Objection: Oh, Master, no. I might inadvertently speak such a code near a console and unlock something I should not. I was merely speaking such to prove to you that I could- it is a trait I am quite proud of." I said with obvious pride in his voice.

"Looks like I'll need to find some way to carry your voice there- or record it." I said quietly.

"Confused Query: I am sorry, Master. Were you speaking to yourself?" the droid asked.

"Never mind. I'll be going now."

I turned around and left the strange droid standing next to the maintenance officer's remains.


	6. Ch 6: An Unexpected Visitor

_**An Unexpected Visitor**_

I went to the opposite room and to my great delight I found a sonic imprint sensor which allowed sounds and voices to be recorded, spliced, and played back. I managed, with some trickery, to get the HK "Protocol" droid to say the code using the maintenance officers voice. After that I made my way to the airlock terminal, turning mining droids and some large bipedal mining droid type into scrap, along the way. I used the sonic sensor to playback the code and opened the airlock. I went over to the now open airlock, evading some floating mines with the help of the force. A locker next to the outer airlock contained a Space Suit that I managed to put on with some difficulty.

I was greeted by the vastness of space. I walked across the narrow cat walk, steering clear of the toxic fuel coming out of the ventilation shafts. When I reached the center of the metal walkway Atton contacted me.

"It's about time, I'm picking up your signal more clearly… except I'm picking you up on the exterior of the facility, on the asteroid's surface. That cant be right." He said, sounding confused.

"Really? Maybe you should look up." I said sarcastically.

"Huh? What are you doing out there? Are you suicidal?"

"I'm just taking a relaxing walk. The clean toxic air does wonders for my health." I told him. Since I was wearing a helmet he couldn't see my grin."

"You're crazy. Even for a Jedi. Look you need to get out of there… quick." He said excitedly.

"Something wrong?"

"What little is left from the ventilation system is venting fuel out of the facility. Most likely caused by the explosions. They're venting Peragus fuel deposits into space through the exterior vents- right in your path."

He explained.

"Looks like I'll have to hurry, then."

"The vents look like they've been purposely rerouted to vent fuel to the surface and only in the last few minutes…" He exclaimed.

"HK!" I thought.

"Oh, what now… I don't believe this. There's a ship coming" Atton exclaimed. "I have a bad feeling about this."

I watched as a Republic Warship flew towards the station. I recognized it as the Harbinger. I watched the passenger tunnel dock to the ship and a fuel connection line connected to the rear of the ship. "I could use the fuel line to bypass the force field in the fuel depot. Just you wait, HK, you haven't won yet!"

I made my way down two ramps and into the dormitory airlock. Taking off the cumbersome suit I could already hear droids on the opposite of the door ahead. I drew my vibroblade and opened the door. I used a force enhanced sprint and took them out rather easy but realized that they were a bit more sturdy. The adjoining room contained a corpse and an excavator droid, which I quickly destroyed. Upon searching the body I came upon a datapad that warned me of fire extinguishers. I opened a seal door and the room contained multiple lockers and a workbench. I used the workbench to build two vibroswords and armed myself with them. I scavenged the items and turned towards the other door. Beyond it were two fire extinguishers. I destroyed one with two grenades and the other with the dark side power Kreia taught me.

I continued making my way through the dormitory section until I finally reached a turbo lift. Next to the lift was a terminal that contained a holo log of Coorta and his gang trying to escape. It all coincided with the logs I watched in the dormitory. The HK droid mimicked the voice of a miner and set up Coorta. I watched the mining droids enter the room I was in and kill Coorta and his two colleagues. Then the voice of HK rang out. "Mocking Query: Coorta? Coorta, are you dead yet? Smug Statement: Oh I forgot to mention, in case you managed to get this far, that I reversed the code to the lift."

"Good to know, you ruthless piece of dirt." I thought to myself. I entered the code, reversed, I had found in the dormitories and the door opened. I stepped into the lift, taking it up to the administration level, and was happy that things were finally looking up. The turbolift halted and I exited the door. As I approached the door ahead of me it opened. Kreia stood on the other side. "I have felt a disturbance… our enemy is here. We must leave at once."

"The Harbinger? If anything it should contain friends."

"The Harbinger is not under the control of the Republic. The one that fired upon the Ebon Hawk as we attempted to rescue you is in control of the ship. He will not let us go without blood being shed." She explained.

"Then let's go." I replied.

"We must make our way to the airlock on this level. I fear that it is already open and if so we must be on our guard. If we cannot reach the Ebon Hawk, then we must find a way to escape on the ship that has docked here."

"Sounds like a good plan." I answered.

We made our way to the Administration console but while running there both me and Kreia felt a ripple in the force. "Did you feel that?" I asked her.

"Yes… lets move quickly." She replied. Atton was sitting next to the administration computer playing pazaak with the comlink next to him.

He looked up grabbing his blaster but lowered it when he recognized me. He looked at Kreia warily. "What in space is going on? Who's this? Another Jedi? What, did you guys suddenly start breeding when I wasn't looking?"

Kreia looked at the pazaak cards and than at him and sighed annoyed. "How in blazes does she see?" I asked myself.

"Atton, there's no time to explain- grab a weapon and follow me." I gave him a blaster rifle that he exchanged for his mining laser.

"Uh…. All right. I gather that ship that just docked isn't carrying friends of yours."

"Sure isn't, if Kreia here is right." I replied.

We started walking towards the airlock but out of the corner of my eye I saw a silver figure.

"Threat: Master, perhaps I did not enunciate clearly the last time we spoke. I suggested that you should shut down, stay put and wait for rescue." It was HK.

"Who's this?" Atton asked.

"I very friendly droid with a faulty vocabulator." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, well then lets get going." Atton replied.

"He was being sarcastic, fool." Kreia jumped in.

Atton looked hurt. "I know that your ladyship, but I really think we should get going."

"Impatient Query: Could I have your attention please?" HK questioned.

"Yeah, yeah. And, no you were clear, I just don't listen to assassin droids."

"Clarification: 'Assassin Droid' is such a crude term, master, reserved for steel drones uploaded with the most archaic kill programs. The thing I did is referred to as 'wanton slaughter'."

"I must admit you did quite a good job." I said coldly.

"Statement: Thank you, Master. Now I would think it best if you return to the med-bay."

"Sorry, but I can't. I have to get out of here and I doubt you can stop me."

"Statement: We shall see."

He raised his blaster rifle and four floating mines appeared around him. Atton threw a ion grenade at the two mines to HK's right and I threw two grenades at the mines to the droids left. Kreia meanwhile attempted to use force shock on the droid but surprisingly it hardly damaged it.

"Statement: I knew you would try and use Jedi powers. My shield protects me against your arts and now I realize I can collect the bounty on two Jedi."

He managed to shoot Atton in the leg. Atton collapsed and screamed in pain. I used a force-enhanced sprint to circle around the droid but it detected me and rolled to the right, while pummeling me with his blaster rifle. Kreia meanwhile came up behind HK and in a blur of motion decapitated him.

"Self-Destruct activated… three, two," Kreia and I quickly ran for cover. "One." A large explosion rocked the floor. I looked up and saw the droids parts lying about. I found the famed, faulty vocabulator and pocketed it.

"Some help here would be nice." Atton called over.

Kreia and I walked over to him. "We should just leave him here." Kreia said with only the slightest notion of a smile. "He is pretty useless in a fight."

I looked over to her. "Or maybe we should put him out of misery…"

Atton gaped at me wide-eyed. "You're joking, right?"

"Maybe you will explain to me why you were locked up?" I said, smirking.

"You two are certainly not Jedi." He replied. "Well here it goes: I was contacted by a friend of mine a week ago or so. He asked me to fly someone from Peragus to Nar Shadaa, no questions asked. I came here and a man name Coorta met me at the hangar and told me that I should keep the engines primed. He asked me if I had some blasters and when I said yes, he told me to keep them loaded. Some time thereafter after I decided to go in the facility. I was arrested when they found my blasters telling me that I violated some trumped up regulation." He ended his story.

I quickly used the force to heal his leg for which he was very grateful. Kreia looked at my use of the force. "Well done, Exile. Your knowledge of the force is slowly returning."

"Who is Exile?" Atton asked confused. "I thought your name was Simion."

"It is, but she is using my title. I was exiled from the Jedi order so she thinks it best to continually rub it in." I said glaring at Kreia. It was true that it was annoying when she kept on saying that. She made no expression or gestures whatsoever so I remained silent.

"That's nice." Atton answered. He stood up and we made our way to the airlock. Strangely enough it was already open. While walking through the tunnel a cold feeling came over me.


	7. Ch 7: The Ghost Ship

_**The Ghost Ship**_

When we entered the ship the death-like silence immediately struck me. I expected to be greeted or attacked by someone on the ship but no one was there. "Maybe the battle HK spoke of left no one alive." I thought.

As if Kreia heard me she spoke. "Something is wrong, I sense no one onboard."

Atton looked upset. "You sense no one onboard? Sense any assassin droids creeping up on us like last time?"

Kreia ignored him. "Everyone here has been slain, but there are few signs of battle. No carbon scoring no blaster scorches. This place was hit by assassins of a different sort."

Atton was even less happy. "Then what are we doing on this ship? You two are supposed to be Jedi? You are the worst Jedi I ever met."

I was confused. "I thought you already established that we weren't Jedi."

Kreia again showed the slightest notion of a smile. Atton continued his rambling. "Well uhh… what are you then? Sith?"

Kreia looked at me interested. "Yes, Exile, what would you call yourself?"

I thought about it for a second. "At the moment… neither."

"A shade of gray then?" she asked.

"Can we talk about this when were not on a deserted ghost ship?" I asked.

"Nevertheless, we need a plan."

Right she was. "I saw a fulepipe extend out of the station into the rear of the ship. If we can get to the engine room we can use that to bypass the containment field in fuel depot."

"Hey, even if we get to the freighter we can't get out of here without the asteroid orbital charts." Atton chimed in.

"Well how did the Harbinger get it?"

"Well of course they have them. But to get the Harbinger's charts we would have to get to the bridge… which is behind this door." He pointed towards the door on our right. "Well that's the only problem I see."

"I think if we open the door the problem should be solved." I replied smiling.

"That is a sound plan. We need to hurry. While we argue here our enemies gather" Kreia interrupted.

"Sorry Kreia, I will focus on the present. Let us move on." I replied, suppressing a little anger.

We went through the door and I was greeted once again by the site of bodies all around. "Well this is 'Beautiful'." Atton interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah it compares beautifully to Peragus." I replied.

I went to the Navigation computer and downloaded the orbital drift charts. Then I checked the logs. The first three were rather boring but the last one contained a interesting recording from the medical bay. A cold deathlike voice came through the speakers after a scream followed by the sound of breaking glass. "I have come for the Jedi." I shivered involuntary and turned to Kreia. "Is this 'our' enemy?"

"Partly." Was all she said.

I decided to head for the escape pods to see if anyone had made it to safety. As we moved through the ship I suddenly felt a cold surge flow through my body. Kreia and I instantly turned around holding our blades defensively.

"Aren't we a bit paranoid?" Atton asked.

I ignored him searching the room for any sing of life. Kreia reacted before I could. A powerful bolt of blue lightning, which I didn't know she could do, came out of her fingers and slammed into something behind me. I spun around to see a black clad man, scorched and burned, laying on the floor. Then suddenly, I sensed them. Stealthed targets were running towards us from the direction of the bridge. I handed Atton some survey gear. Take these and cover us. He began pummeling the assassins with blaster bolts while Kreia and I assaulted them head on. I immediately realized that they carried double bladed weapons so I drew my second vibrosword so as to fight them better. As soon as I mounted my first hit on his arm he became visible. He grunted in pain but made no effort to heal himself with the force. I stretched out my senses and was surprised to find him force less. Not just non-force sensitive, but forceless. "What the hell?" I thought. "Are they droids?" We finished dispersing them a few seconds later.

"Not bad for an old woman." Atton said pointing to the two corpses Kreia had caused.

Kreia just ignored him. "No they are not droids. There Lord has made them his slaves by taking there will." She answered my thoughts.

"And I thought Revan was evil." I mused out loud.

Kreia lips made the slightest notion of a quiver. "Is that what she was?" she asked quietly.

Atton interrupted. "Hey you two, shouldn't we get off this ship?"

I nodded and we continued our journey through the ship. After killing another group of assassins we made it to the escape pods. There were none jettisoned. I fell to my knees in agony. Atton immediately rushed over. "Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"They all died because of me…" I stopped emotion chocking my voice. "Just like… like the miners."

I saw a Sith corpse in the corner. Going over to it I quickly decapitated it with a swing of my blade and kicked the head away, enraged. " Let's get to the engine room."

After another few minutes of hacking through Sith assassins we made it to the dormitories. I suddenly remembered that this was the cabin I was in before I woke up in Peragus.

"What are you doing?" Atton asked when I suddenly stopped walking.

"Is something wrong?" Kreia asked concerned.

"This was my cabin." I answered them.

Atton looked confused. "Your cabin? When?"

"Before I lost consciousness and woke up in the Peragus med-bay." I replied.

I entered the room and picked up some personal things. I was happy to find that my old sword was still there. It was a old double bladed weapon I had found on Tatooine, in front of a cave, during my exile. Now holding it again it felt strangely different. Somehow… dark. Kreia immediately grabbed my arm. "Where did you get this?" she asked excitedly.

"Is that excitement I hear in your voice? I must be going deaf. I hear emotion in your voice…" I said ironically. Atton snickered behind us.

"Don't change the subject." Getting rebuked was not fun. "Where did you get this sword?"

"In front of a cave on Tatooine. Inside the skeleton of some huge creature." I replied amused not understanding her interest in the sword. She seemed mildly disappointed at my reply.

"Maybe I was mistaken. But the power coming from the sword… is quite incredible." I attempted to sense the sword with the force and was myself surprised to find it reeking of the dark side.

"Truly, a strange sensation this weapon carries." I held out the sword to Kreia. "Maybe you should take it?"

"No, you must use it. If it is what I think it is, it may serve you or it may destroy you. It will be a test for you."

"More mystery talk, eh?" I looked at her thoughtfully. "What do you think the sword to be?"

"It shall remain a mystery… for now." I frowned.

Nevertheless, I thought it best to continue our "trip" through the ship. After some time we made it to the ship's med-bay. It was large and rectangular in shape. Kolto tanks were arrayed along the wall. In the very center of the room was a large kolto tank but unlike the others it was shattered. This did not disturb me terribly since the whole ship was in a bad state. I checked the console for anything useful. It contained some chemicals and a camera log. The log centered on the shattered kolto tank but what the tank contained was… shocking. A… man of sorts, that looked like someone I had seen in a horror movie a few years ago, was floating inside the tank. That he was alive seemed impossible. He had a gray color which only added to his deathlike appearance. I felt Atton come up beside me looking at the screen.

"What is that?" he asked, loud enough to blow out my eardrums.

"How should I know?"

We watched as the "thing" suddenly jerked. The republic soldier attending the med lab suddenly fell to her knees gripping her head in agony. "Sith!" I thought to myself. Suddenly the soldier stood up and ran away. The Kolto in the tank subsided and as soon as the Kolto had disappeared the Sith jumped out of the Tank shattering the glass.

"Wow, I guess the guy doesn't mind getting cut up." Atton said.

"Guess not…" I turned towards Kreia. "Do you know him?"

"Maybe." was all she answered.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Atton roll his eyes. "Listen, Kreia, your cryptic stand offish routine is starting to bother me."

She just glared at me and raised her hand. My hand suddenly felt like it was on fire and I fell to my knees. Atton retreated behind the shattered Kolto tank in fear. Then suddenly the pain in my subsided. "We have to leave." Kreia said as if nothing happened. "We will talk later." I didn't argue with her and I still felt a throbbing headache.

We disposed of a few more assassins and came to a turbo lift. I entered it along with Atton and Kreia and pressed the button that took us to the engine room. Atton backed himself into a corner as far away from Kreia as possible. Kreia was expressionless.

"Aren't we the lovely trio." I mused out loud.

Atton grinned. "Yeah… a exiled Jedi, a old woman, and a smuggler."

Kreia still stood next to me as if she wanted to grow roots. The lift was moving at a terribly slow speed but at least it moved. "Something tells me that you are not just a smuggler," I said pointing at Atton. I turned toward Kreia, "And that you are more than just an old woman." She actually showed the faint sign of a smile.

The door of the lift opened. The engine level was dimly lit and there were to my surprise no corpses. Atton suddenly tensed. "I've got a bad feeling about this." he said.

"Why is that?" I asked curiously. I could feel the whisper of a force essence within him. "Maybe he is mildly force sensitive." I thought.

"It's this feeling I get. Trust me… when I feel like this, things are going to get really bad, real fast."

"Yeah your right. It's been 'real' nice till now." he grinned at me. "But if you think its going to get worse we best be careful."

His answer to that was the first genuine smile I had seen him make. We ran, not walked, on, but I suddenly stopped and turned around. On the far side of the corridor, exiting the lift we had taken down to this level from the dormitories, the Sith we had seen in the med bay camera logs appeared. I looked over at Atton.

"We could make a run fo-"

Kreia interrupted. "This battle is mine alone. I am not defenseless." She ran towards the Sith. She turned towards us briefly. "Run. I will be along shortly."

The doors slammed shut and I was about to be noble and run after her when Atton pulled me back. "You wouldn't want to ruin her theatrical sacrifice, would you?"

I grinned. "You have a point."

After opening the engine room from a console we made our way through the engines on a narrow catwalk. After a few seconds we came to another computer. Atton ran over to it and pressed a button opening the way to the fuel line. As I entered he looked at me suspiciously.

"Are we really going in there?" he asked.

I looked at him in disbelief. "No Atton. We will stay on this pleasure yacht." I said sarcastically.

"All right." he moved ahead of me. "Let's go."

Searing pain suddenly crawled up my arm. I gripped my arm in agony and fell to the floor. "What the hell?" Atton exclaimed when he turned around seeing me lying on the floor. "What are you doing. This is no time for a nap." The pain subsided as suddenly as it had come.

"My hand… it felt like it was dipped in molten carbonite." he looked at the hand I was clutching.

"Both of your hands look…fine."

I suddenly burst into laughter. He looked at me as if I was mentally unstable. "I'm sorry." I said catching my breath. " I must seem crazy to you. But I did feel searing pain in my hands. It was… strange." I jumped to my feet. "Let's get going."


	8. Ch 8: A Perilous Escape

_**A Perilous Escape**_

The fuel pipe was dark. Ahead of us I could discern a small silver bucket. As we came closer I could tell that it was a astromech-droid. It was slightly damaged so I set to work repairing it.

"What are you doing?" Atton asked incredulously.

"I think this may be the droid that opened the emergency hatch for us." I explained.

"So?"

"So it would be very ungrateful to leave him here to get destroyed." I glared at him.

"Your talking about the droid like it's a person." he retorted.

I breathed in heavily. "It bloody well saved our skins. And besides it will be useful to repair damage on the ship… if we reach it."

The lights on the droid suddenly turned on. The beeps and chirps of the droid echoed through the fuel line.

"Yeah, you did well in opening the emergency hatch. What happened to you?" I answered him. The droid beeped back.

"What's he saying?" Atton asked.

"He said he was attacked by a strange looking "protocol" droid." I turned back to T3. "We were too. Its scrap now. Thanks for getting us off the administration level by the way."

Atton grumbled something about 'it's his job' but kept it to himself. The droid seemed to be susceptible to praise for it chirped happily. 

"Let's get going." I exclaimed.

Just in front of the droid I found a small device. I picked it up and stuffed it in my bag. We exited the fuel pipe and just as I had thought, we were on the opposite side of the containment field. After exiting the fuel pipe we encountered droids but they were quickly turned to scrap. We soon made it to a ramp. Halfway up the ramp was a console. I turned of the energy field blocking us from the hangar. Running with force enhanced speed up the ramp I jumped at the nearest excavator droid, beheading it. T3-M4 and Atton blasted at everything that moved, except me. We ran to the lift and I was excited to find a button labeled: "Hangar".

"You don't suppose…" Atton began.

I smiled. "I don't, but we can hope that we can finally get off this rock. We quickly made it to the Hangar computers after destroying 3 more droids. Atton ran to the door. "I don't believe this. The door is locked and sealed." T3 bleeped.

"What? What did he say?"

"He said he can unlock the Hangar door with the device I found in the fuel line." I triumphantly pulled the device from my bag.

Atton looked ecstatic. "By the way, how do you even understand that noise the droid makes?"

"I served with a lot of utility druids in the… well a long time ago."

T3 unlocked the Hangar door and a few minutes of carnage later we stood on the landing platform. The Ebon Hawk was in working order and must have been repaired since numerous logs had said it was damaged. As we ran up the boarding ramp I spotted Sith soldiers.

"Quick! I need some time to get the engines and the ship running. Let's give the laser turret a workout." Atton exclaimed.

I manned the turret massacring the Sith soldiers trying to reach the boarding ramp. After a few minutes of slaughter Atton exclaimed that we were ready for takeoff. I turned and ran back to the cockpit but was surprised to find Kreia standing by the closed boarding ramp clutching her hand or what was left of it.

"Kreia?" I asked.

"Quickly. There is no time. We must leave at once." I felt the ship taking off smoothly. Atton swung it around and we left Peragus behind us. Suddenly blasts streamed past us. "The Harbinger!" Atton exclaimed. Atton twisted and turned through the Asteroid field. "If they hit us were dead but if they keep missing us we'll be dead too! Those are great odds." The asteroids were filled with fuel so one of the rocks exploding to close to us would kill us instantly.

"You said the Asteroids are filled with fuel. Shoot them and let them take care of the Sith."

"That will take out the colony, the system, and maybe us." Atton replied.

"Then we die here. Choose now." Kreia said.

Another blast rocked the ship. The energy shield was slowly weakening. "Do it Atton!" Atton just shook his head. Another blast hit us and the shield was down to 5. I pulled my sword and swung it stopping inches before Atton's neck. "Do it now!" I yelled.

"Alright!" Atton yelled back. "If we die don't blame it on me." He began pummeling the nearest Asteroid with the quad laser turret. "Hold on this will get a little rocky." Seconds later we heard a huge explosion. One of the asteroids to our right exploded and the blast wave pushed us further out of the Asteroid belt. Atton made a cry for joy, pushing the throttle forward, the stars streamed past us and we entered hyperspace.

"I can't believe it…" was all I said.

"Neither can I." Atton added. " Well now that we just killed a planet maybe you will explain what's going on. Because between assassin druids, assassins, a Sith Lord that looks like he sleeps with vibro-blades, and being target practice for a Republic warship I was better off in my cell."

Before I could rebuke him Kreia replied. "That Republic warship was the Harbinger. It was on it's way to Telos when it was seized by the Sith." She turned towards me. "They sought you, Jedi."

"I am not part of the order anymore." I retorted.

"That does not make a difference. The Sith believe you to be a Jedi Knight."

"Great! So what do we do?" I asked.

Atton interrupted. "Enough with the "we" already."

"For now we go to Telos." Kreia said.

"Like we have a choice the Peragus charts being what they are." Atton chimed in.

"Well how do we fight the Sith?" I asked. "I want to take the fight to them on my own terms not have some assassin stab me in the back."

"What the hell? Why do you keep saying "we"? I have no part in this." Atton interrupted.

"For now you do… unless you want to float in space." I grinned wickedly.

Atton smirked. "Alright, I guess your right. For now I'm stuck with you."

I turned back towards Kreia. "So, how should we fight the Sith?"

A few Jedi like lectures later she had told me everything and nothing and had left the room calling Atton a "imbecile and fool". I stood there in utter confusion. She had told me about this being unlike any battle I had ever fought but never told me how to fight it. All she said is that I would need weapons, allies, and a "teacher". I had hoped she knew more about these Sith than that. Atton cleared his throat behind me.

"Maybe you should go check on her." he said.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Was he actually getting sensitive?" I thought.

"You saw her hand…"

I thought back on our conversation. "She seemed fine to me."

"Are you kidding? If I was her I'd be screaming like a mynock. Well a strong, manly mynock."

"Well ok I'll go check on her."

I made my way out of the cockpit. T3 rolled up in front of me making his way to the main hold. The main hold was semi circular in shape shaped and in the center was a huge round computer with all kinds of instruments monitoring a planet's statistics. I stopped T3.

"You seem to know the ship rather well." I told him. He beeped an affirmative.

"You told us earlier that you repaired this ship and flew us to Peragus…"

He bleeped a yes. "Thanks T3. You're a good little droid. By the way, you look like you have taken a lot of damage over the years."

"Beep!"

"I could try and repair you…"

After opening him I managed to repair a few of his parts resulting in his response package being improved. I watched as he rolled down the corridors towards the engine room. I stretched out my senses in an attempt to find Kreia. I realized that she was in the Port dormitory. Before going to her I decided to make myself familiar with the ship. From the central room, the mainhold, four corridors went to opposite areas of the ship. Behind me one path led to the cokcpit. Ahead of me, through which T3 was rolling, was the corridor that led to the Engine room. The hallway to my left led to the starboard dormitory and the garage. The corridor to my right led to the port dormitory, in which Kreia was meditating. I walked to the Port dormitory and sure enough, I found Kreia meditating.

"Have you come with questions?" she asked her back turned to me.

"Yes." she turned around and looked, or whatever she did, at me. "When you lost your hand, I felt it too."

"Indeed. We may have developed a very strong bond. That is one of the reasons why we can communicate without speaking." she explained.

I looked at her hood where I expected her eyes to be. "What if you had died?"

"The consequences may have been less painful but much quicker…"

"That's what I thought." I replied.

"You should see to that fool in the cockpit-"

"He is no fool! He has a name… use it." I commanded as I walked out of the door. Making my way back to the cockpit I inspected the large round sealing of an area in the main hold. After some tinkering with the mechanism it opened. Inside was a rusty droid missing key parts. It looked identical to the HK Protocol droid on Peragus. Looking it over I realized that it was missing four key parts. One of them, a vocabulator. I went to the cargo hold ,where I had deposited all our weapons and items, and retrieved the HK vocabulator. After an hour of fiddling with the droids skull I finally managed to insert the vocabulator. I decided to check on Atton after the exasperating work. Entering the cockpit I found him swinging about with one of my vibroswords.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, amused. He stumbled and shoved the sword cleanly into the control panel monitoring our fuel level. "You fool!" I exclaimed. Atton began desperately pulling at the sword while sparks flew around in the cockpit. "T3?" I yelled.

"No need to call the cargo cylinder." Atton exclaimed. "I got everything under control." I rolled my eyes as he yanked the sword out of the control panel smiling triumphantly.

"You killed it." I pointed at the sparking fuel monitor. Just then T3 rolled in. "See if you can't repair that." I said pointing at the broken monitor. T3 rolled past Atton beeping at him exasperatedly.

"What did he say?" Atton asked.

"He said that your 'a foolish organic'." I said smirking.


	9. Ch 9: The Pleasure Yacht: Part 1

_**Pleasure Yacht, Part I**_

Pushing Atton ahead of me I closed the door to the cargo hold. Going over to the containers I picked out two vibroswords, intent on familiarizing him with melee weapons.

"Catch!" I threw him one of the swords and he threw himself on the floor. The sword clattered to the metal floor a few meters behind him.

"Do you want to kill me?" he yelled indignantly. He got up brushing some dust off his jacket.

"Atton, the worst thing that could have happened is the handle hitting your nose… I didn't throw it blade first you know."

"Oh…" he nodded and picked up the sword.

Two hours later we stepped out of the cargo hold. Sweating I nodded with approval as he twirled his sword lovingly. "See," I told him. "If you stop thinking about Pazaak, who's flying the ship, and whether the hyper drive is in order, you actually do great."

He smirked. "Yeah well, you know me, I have many talents."

I smiled back. "On the contrary. I don't know you…"

"Oh yeah… well not much to tell. Smuggler, Pilot, and other things that pay well."

We entered the cockpit. "Jedi bounties pay well…"

He jumped from the Pilot seat. "Hey, even I am not that low. You rescued me remember."

"Right…" I answered looking at the galaxy map to find our position.

"So… where is it?" he asked.

"It? It can be any number of things." I replied.

"Oh, don't give me that. I meant your lightsaber." he answered.

I rolled my eyes. "Now how was I supposed to know that you meant my lightsaber? It was taken from me when I was exiled."

"Oh… I thought Jedi were supposed to be married to there lightsabers. I heard someone call it, 'an extension of there self'." I nodded. "Well, that's like ripping a part of you from your body."

I was impressed. "Indeed. You continue to surprise me Atton."

He smiled. "Thanks. Was your saber red?"

"Silver." I replied.

"Like Exar Kun's? I heard his was double bladed." he asked.

I looked at him suspiciously. "You hear a lot about Sith and Jedi history."

"Oh well, uh, when I was a kid I had a Exar Kun action figure and…"

I interrupted. "Ok, no need to tell me about your child hood."

"Alright, alright…"

"When will we reach Telos?" I asked.

"Almost a standard day's time." he answered.

I turned around and started walking to the cargo hold. "I'm going to check if there is something to eat on this ship."

A few minutes later I returned to the cockpit carrying ration bars. "Well Atton, today's menu will be ration bars, ration bars and ration bars. What would you like?" I said sarcastically.

He turned around in his pilot chair. "I think I'll go with the ration bars."

I smiled. "An excellent choice."

We sat down on the floor eating and playing pazaak. Atton seemed to win every game and I was starting to wonder if he was cheating.

"Oh, what about the old hag… Did you give her something to eat?"

"Yeah, but she wasn't too pleased about the menu choice."

He smirked. "Who can blame her?"

We finished our game and I decided to call it a day. "I'm off. Stay here in the cockpit in case of emergency."

He looked incredulous. "I'm tired too!"

I smirked. "You can sleep in the pilot's chair." I replied.

He grumbled something but didn't argue while I claimed the starboard dormitories as my quarters. I undressed and fell asleep the moment I put my head on my pillow.

I slept exactly eight hours as I always do. Waking up I looked around and it took me a few seconds to realize where I was. Yesterday's events came to my mind. 'I had more happen yesterday than in the last three years combined.' I thought. I stumbled to the medbay and used the fresher adjoined to it to clean myself. 'I destroyed and killed more on Peragus than all the years since the war combined.' It filled me with a strange sense of pride considering I killed only "bad guys".

I walked over to the cockpit to find Atton twisted strangely into the Pilot's chair. When I tapped him on the shoulder, I was surprised to find him reaching for his blaster in a blink of an eye. "Hey, it's me!"

Atton looked up and groaned. "Oh God, I feel terrible." he began massaging his neck.

I stretched out, and touched his neck. The force poured into his sore muscles healing him instantly. "There."

Atton smirked. "JedI's have there advantages. Of course if it weren't for you I could sleep in the dormitory but…"

"Alright, alright." I interrupted. "Where are the ration bars?" I asked.

"I stuffed them in the closet below the galaxy map. I opened the door, to what seemed a storage compartment, and found that stuffed was an understatement. "You weren't kidding." I told him.

He seemed to realize what I mean. "I'm not the most orderly person." he replied. "Can I have one?"

I threw him one which he caught. "Remind me to get some food on Telos." I said. "I mean 'real' food."

I carried a couple of ration bars over to Kreia but quickly retreated when she raised her hand without turning to face me. Not a moment to soon, because behind me lightning struck into the metal wall of the ship. Without entering I yelled. "It's not my fault. There is no food in the ship."

I heard the faintest sound of a chuckle. "I will use the force to nourish me until we arrive in Telos."

"Suit yourself…" I went back to the cockpit finishing my tasteless meal. Atton had finished his also and looked at me with a and-what-now look on his face.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"Dejarik, sword fighting, or Pazaak…"

We began with pazaak and eventually played some dejarik. It was not Atton's strength and he lost every game. "Well I guess now were even." I said. "Your win every Pazaak game and I win every dejarik game, although I can't understand why the cards are always stacked against me."

"Scoundrel's luck." he answered grinning.

Atton also improved considerably in melee combat. He became agile and fast improving steadily. A few hours later we went to the cockpit and realized that we had almost reached Telos. I decided to play it safe and take off the mining uniform. 'Who know's what they would do If they hear what happened on Peragus.' I wondered. Atton took the ship in for a smooth landing while I put on some normal clothes.


End file.
